Teacher complains vs non-renewal

CEBU, Philippines - A former trainer at the Department of Manpower Development and Placement (DMDP) cried foul over the non-renewal of his contract that ended October 1. He has been serving the city for 14 years and six months and his non-renewal came as a surprise.

Mark Luces said it was clearly politically motivated because his only fault was his failure to gather people in his sitio in barangay Pahina San Nicolas to attend a Team Rama "pulong-pulong" last June 24.

Luces claims to be a sector leader of a society with over 100,000 members in Cebu City alone. He said he is a "Datu", one of the many, of the Kinatas-ang Kahugpungan sa Kapupud-an Datu Alimaong, a group claiming to be an indigenous group but unrecognized by the National Commission on Indigenous People.

Luces was interviewed over the Radio Program paid by Rep. Tomas Osmeña in dyLA where he complained about Rama not renewing him for no profound reason. He said he has no bad record as an employee and was not recommended for non-renewal by his superior.

He said he only failed to convince residents of C. Padilla to attend Team Rama's "pulong-pulong".

"Kanang amua, mga Type O man gyud na. Di man nimo mapugos ang mga tawo bisa'g bayran pa na nimo. Di man sad na murespeto nila (Team Rama) kay wa man sila'y saktong baruganan" Luces said.

He said he no longer wants to go back to city hall, but wanted to tell the truth to the Cebuanos.

Electronics, used to be handled by Luces, is one of the 20 vocational courses offered by DMDP for free. It is free for Cebu City youth and residents who cannot fund a formal education in universities and colleges.

About 30 students skipped their class yesterday morning as a sign of protest and to support their former teacher. But Carlito Carudo said they will go back to class today amid protest.

Sonny Gimenea of the HRDO said that Luces has no reason to complain because he knew that his contract, which only lasts for three months, already ended.

Luces, Gimenea said, was given the notice that the city no longer needs his service. Gimenea said casual employees knew that their contracts are temporary and that there is no guarantee of renewal. Gimenea assured there was no politics behind it.

DMDP head Fidel Magno said that he tried to ask for the extension of Luces' contract last September 19, but he got no reply from the mayor. Magno said that as far as his office his concerned, they need Luces' service as an electronics teacher.

He however assured that the one who replaced Luces temporarily was a capable teacher who is an electronics and communications engineer. "He was promoted as the head of the training division so he is very capable," Magno said.

Luces is an IT graduate. He said he got his training to teach electronics and got his license to teach from the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority. – (FREEMAN)